July 5, 2013 10:13pm EDTJuly 5, 2013 8:19pm EDTIs your team on Jesse Spector's list of free agency winners? If you recognize these faces, you're in luck. Bobby Ryan, in the center, is the best player to change teams on the first day. Who else did the right thing?

Considering that free agency was supposed to be a dud this year, things got interesting in a hurry on Friday, starting with Daniel Alfredsson leaving Ottawa, after spending his entire career in Canada’s capital, to join the Senators’ new division rivals, the Detroit Red Wings. By the end of the day, more than 50 unrestricted free agents had signed contracts either with new teams or the ones they previously played for, and there were restricted free agents agreeing to extensions, and trades as well.

Who did the most to help themselves on Friday? Here are the biggest winners, as much as you could say that about anybody…

Edmonton’s biggest expenditures were on veteran defenseman Andrew Ference—four years, $13 million to provide leadership and stability on the back end—and defensive center Boyd Gordon—three years, $9 million to win big faceoffs and take the tough shifts so that those talented youngsters’ goals stand up. Then there were deals with backup goalie Jason Labarbera, and depth forwards Will Acton, Ryan Hamilton and Jesse Joensuu.

The Oilers have not been to the playoffs since 2006, and part of Ference's allure was that he was part of the Bruins’ 2011 championship team, as well as the group that went to the Stanley Cup finals last month. Dallas Eakins, who coached Hamilton with the Toronto Marlies in the AHL, will be the Oilers’ fourth coach in five seasons.

“The situation isn’t entirely different from when I go back to when we first started turning this thing around in Boston,” Ference said. “Talking to Dallas, and hearing his approach to the game, it really meshed with mine. That experience and that success is earned, through hard work, honest work, and accountability. All those things that are really easy to talk about, but a lot harder to do. I think he really is committed to having those things in the organization. That’s important to me, to be around people that aren’t happy with just being OK.”

Ference is 34, so a quick progression in Edmonton, where he’ll also be asked to set an example for this year’s first-round pick Darnell Nurse, is important if he hopes to win a Cup with his hometown team. The addition of Gordon, 29, helps to ease the pain of Thursday’s trade that sent Oilers captain Shawn Horcoff to Dallas—Gordon is five years younger, better suited for the role he’ll be asked to play, and $2.5 million cheaper annually.

Adding Labarbera as a backup is a solid vote of confidence in Devan Dubnyk, as the Oilers brought in a true backup rather than someone who might challenge for the starter’s role. That’s a gamble, but one worth taking.

Ottawa Senators

Get past the drama of losing Alfredsson, whose departure for a division rival definitely stings, and recognize that the Senators ended Friday a better team than they began it with the additions of Bobby Ryan in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks and Clarke MacArthur on a very reasonable, two-year, $6.5 million contract to come across Ontario from the Toronto Maple Leafs.

General manager Bryan Murray may have had the hardest time getting past the drama of anyone, as he arrived at his press conference with a written timeline explaining Alfredsson’s departure, and delivered one of the more detailed explanations of failed negotiations that you’ll ever see. Why Murray did that, emphasizing Alfredsson’s exit instead of Ryan’s arrival, is anyone’s guess, but that’s what happened. Anyway, Ryan was excited to finally be done with years of trade rumors in Anaheim.

“Ottawa….I’m coming in hot,” the winger tweeted.

Ryan has been a 30-goal scorer each of the last four full NHL seasons, and had 11 goals in this past shortened campaign. He is 26 years old and probably fits better on the Senators at this point than the 40-year-old Alfredsson. If things worked out differently, the Senators could have had both players, but as it is, the Senators go into next season with strong goaltending from Craig Anderson, a defense corps led by healthy-again 2012 Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson, and Ryan along with healthy-again Jason Spezza as the offensive 1-2 punch.

That’s not to mention MacArthur, a 20-goal scorer each of the two seasons before the lockout, and before he was held to 14:55 per game by Randy Carlyle during an eight-goal campaign over 40 games. Even at that 16-goal pace for a full season, MacArthur would be delivering the kind of secondary scoring he has been signed for, and at $3.25 million per year, he’d be doing it for decent value.

Ottawa still has a solid amount of young talent, so while giving up Jakob Silfverberg, 2011 first-round pick Stefan Noesen, and next year’s first-rounder is a tough pill to swallow, the Senators could afford to send them away for Ryan.

New York Islanders

The strategy employed by Garth Snow is a fascinating one, as the Islanders’ general manager gave out the richest one-year contract of the day (until Jarome Iginla's), a $2 million pact to add Pierre-Marc Bouchard from the Minnesota Wild, whom he scored 20 goals in 2006-07 and had only 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists this season).

If that sounds familiar, that’s because last year, Snow signed Brad Boyes to a one-year, $1 million contract, hoping that the former 43-goal scorer would rediscover some of his offensive touch on a line with Matt Moulson and John Tavares. Boyes had 35 points in 48 games, his best showing on a points-per-game basis since 2008-09 with St. Louis.

It’s not just about taking a flier on a player and hoping that he rediscovers himself, though. Snow went against the grain further on Friday by re-signing restricted free agent defenseman Travis Hamonic to a seven-year deal—the opposite of what the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers did last year when they signed P.K. Subban and Michael Del Zotto, respectively, to two-year contracts that will eventually see them get huge raises. Hamonic will be slightly overpaid for his age, but when he’s in his prime and making less than $4 million a year, he figures to be a steal, while Subban may need to back up a dump truck to his house to receive his salary.

Getting 27-year-old Peter Regin for one year and $750,000 was a fine move to replace 34-year-old Keith Aucoin, who had a nice season in the Islanders’ bottom six, but went to St. Louis as a free agent. The one confusing move was re-signing Evgeni Nabokov to play goal for another season, but if the Islanders are paving the way for 23-year-old Kevin Poulin to play more, it makes more sense.

Honorable mention

The Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals did absolutely nothing on Friday. On a day when the “winners” were teams who purchased moderate upgrades at steep costs, it was a good idea to stay on the sidelines and go bargain hunting later. … The Red Wings did well to surprise everyone and get Alfredsson, and Stephen Weiss is a solid signing as a second-line center. … The Nashville Predators went a little too long on their contracts for Eric Nystrom and Matt Hendricks at four years apiece, but together with Viktor Stalberg and Matt Cullen, they provide a nice boost to the forward corps. … The Jets' only move was trading a second-round pick to the Wild for Setoguchi, who's capable 20 goals on a top-six wing.